Hamelin: (12) Etudes / Little Nocturne / Con intissimo sentimento - excerpts / Theme and Variations (Cathy's Variations)

Hamelin: (12) Etudes / Little Nocturne / Con intissimo sentimento - excerpts / Theme and Variations (Cathy's Variations)

Hamelin: (12) Etudes / Little Nocturne / Con intissimo sentimento - excerpts / Theme and Variations (Cathy's Variations)
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CD Details

Composer: Marc-Andre Hamelin
Performer: Marc-Andre Hamelin
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 2010-09-14
Music Label: Hyperion
Soundtracks:
  1. ?tudes (12) in all the minor keys, for piano: No. 1 in A minor: Triple ?tude (after Chopin)
  2. ?tudes (12) in all the minor keys, for piano: No. 2 in E minor: Coma Berenices
  3. ?tudes (12) in all the minor keys, for piano: No. 3 in B minor: after Paginini-Liszt
  4. ?tudes (12) in all the minor keys, for piano: No. 4 in C minor: ?tude à mouvement perpétuellement semblable (after Alkan)
  5. ?tudes (12) in all the minor keys, for piano: No. 5 in G minor: Toccata grottesca
  6. ?tudes (12) in all the minor keys, for piano: No. 6 in D minor: Esercizio per pianoforte (Omaggio a Domenico Scarlatti)
  7. ?tudes (12) in all the minor keys, for piano: No. 7 in E flat minor: after Tchaikovsky (for the left hand alone)
  8. ?tudes (12) in all the minor keys, for piano: No. 8 in B flat minor: Erlkönig (after Goethe)
  9. ?tudes (12) in all the minor keys, for piano: No. 9 in F minor: after Rossini
  10. ?tudes (12) in all the minor keys, for piano: No. 10 in F sharp minor: after Chopin
  11. ?tudes (12) in all the minor keys, for piano: No. 11 in C sharp minor: Minuetto
  12. ?tudes (12) in all the minor keys, for piano: No. 12 in A flat minor: Prelude and Fugue
  13. Little Nocturne, for piano
  14. Con intimissimo sentimento, suite for piano: Ländler 1
  15. Con intimissimo sentimento, suite for piano: Album Leaf
  16. Con intimissimo sentimento, suite for piano: Music Box
  17. Con intimissimo sentimento, suite for piano: After Pergolesi
  18. Con intimissimo sentimento, suite for piano: Berceuse (in tempore belli)
  19. Theme and Variations (Cathy's Variations), for piano: Theme. Con semplicità, eleganza e tenerezza
  20. Theme and Variations (Cathy's Variations), for piano: Variation 1. Più mosso, corrente
  21. Theme and Variations (Cathy's Variations), for piano: Variation 2. L'istesso tempo (ma cantabile)
  22. Theme and Variations (Cathy's Variations), for piano: Variation 3. Molto più moderato (poco rubato)
  23. Theme and Variations (Cathy's Variations), for piano: Variation 4. Poco animato ma cantabile e senza prestezza
  24. Theme and Variations (Cathy's Variations), for piano: Envoi. A capriccio

Music reviews of Hamelin: (12) Etudes / Little Nocturne / Con intissimo sentimento - excerpts / Theme and Variations (Cathy's Variations)

Music Review: An Anomaly: An Immensely Enjoyable Disc of Contemporary Piano Music
Rating: 5 Stars

This was supposed to be a review of Hamelin's reference recording of the Scriabin Sonatas, but just having read the 'A very cold virtuoso's work' review by Jon Appleton, himself a published and recorded composer, I quickly wrote up the following instead.

Having had the opportunity to hear Mr Hamelin live a number of times since 2000, I was already convinced he is the greatest living wizard of the art of piano playing. Therefore, one would expect the Etudes originating from his pen to be something out of the ordinary--at least as far as technical considerations go. And no-one would probably argue about the technical achievement here, which not only looks back to the tradition of Chopin, Liszt, Alkan, Debussy, Scriabin, Godowsky, Sorabji et al but also offers some advancement. What I believe Mr Hamelin has done is to create a rich transtemporal buffet of largely diatonic piano studies, meticulously prepared by the hands of a master chef, spiced with all of his patented tricks and above all his intriguing wit.

From a musical point of view, we are obviously not faced with the discovery of another set of Chopin or Debussy Etudes; we are not either quite in the league of Sorabji or Ligeti as to originality. That said, Hamelin's Etudes are the continuation of the kind of late-romantic pianist-composer pastiches mastered by the likes of Godowsky and later Horowitz--and as such, they are individual and interesting enough by a good margin to preserve both in print (Edition Peters) and on record. Does that mean they are automatically 'cold' and 'emotionless', as suggested by Jon Appleton? Well, if responses like awesome, jaw-dropping, fiendish, hilarious, witty and over-the-top belong to this category, then yeah. If not, one can wonder whether similar superficial two-word dismissals rather are to be seen as projections of the commentators' personal frustrations and shortcomings.

I tend to prefer the more outlandish pastiches to the more serious compositions: Even after extensive revision (humanisation, as it were) No 3 (after Paganini-Liszt) remains the most pianistically dazzling, whereas No 6 (after Scarlatti) is the most memorable (having caused me a rather persistent earworm); another favourite is the lilting No 9 (after Rossini). As for the non-pastiches (albeit the line is blurry), I find Nos 2, 8 and 11 comparatively non-memorable, whereas No 5 (Toccata grottesca) and above all No 12 (Prelude and Fugue, of which the latter is insanely taxing) are masteretudes. For those who have cherished the preceding Composer-Pianists and Kaleidoscope albums, which have featured five of the Etudes, this disc is the cherry on the cake.

When it comes to Hamelin's more personal compositions, whose technical demands are considerably more approachable, I regret to admit that I have found their quality to be variable: Little Nocturne and the suite 'Con intimissimo sentimento', which I first heard live in its entirety together with the 6th Etude nearly a decade ago, ultimately fail to leave a lasting impression. What surprised me greatly, though, was the utterly charming Cathy's Variations, written as a portrait of Hamelin's fiancée--indeed, a pure delight.

The bottom line is that this is an immensely enjoyable and rewarding disc of contemporary piano music. Hand on your heart: how many such do you have in your collection? I think this is the very reason why it has received, and is likely to continue receiving, cheap shots from people like Jon Appleton (as a matter of fact, much similar to the hostility feminists tend to show their female superiors!) In this respect, naturally, it does not help that the composer's own execution is as Olympian as ever--which should, and hopefully will, be rewarded accordingly.
More Hamelin: (12) Etudes / Little Nocturne / Con intissimo sentimento - excerpts / Theme and Variations (Cathy's Variations) free music reviews:
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Description of Hamelin: (12) Etudes / Little Nocturne / Con intissimo sentimento - excerpts / Theme and Variations (Cathy's Variations)

Hamelin plays Hamelin: a glimpse into the fabulously bizarre musical mind of one of the greatest piano virtuosos of today. Marc-Andr Hamelin's twelve tudes, written over a period of nearly twenty-five years, have already achieved cult status by reputation as pianistic challenges beyond the reach of most human fingers. That they will immediately take their place in the concert repertoire of any pianist who thinks themself equal to them is indicated by their contemporaneous publication by Peters Edition New York. The disc is completed by more of Hamelin's compositions, including the quiet and reflective Con intissimo sentimento and the musical love poem Cathy's Variations. As a whole it is a detailed portrait of this talented and complex musician.

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